Grace VB Splits Tourney Openers; Cross Country Sweeps
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Josh Neuhart-
WINONA LAKE – Grace’s volleyball team continued its challenging non-league schedule by playing a pair of teams receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 on Friday. The Lady Lancers split the day at the Lindsey Wilson Tournament, beating Point Park and falling to St. Catharine. In the opening match of the tournament, Grace experienced defeat for the first time this season. Despite earning nine block points in the match, the Lady Lancers (5-1) struggled to slow down St. Catharine’s attack and lost 3-1. The Patriots (5-3) hit .301 as a team, including .467 in the decisive fourth set. Grace fell behind early in the first set and never recovered, losing 25-13. The Lady Lancers rebounded to pull out a hard-fought 25-22 win in the second set, closing out the game on a 7-2 run which ended on a kill from Laken Chaney. The third set started out in Grace’s favor, leading 13-8. But the Patriots found their stride midway through the game and ended the set on a 17-4 run to win by eight. St. Catharine closed out the match with another 25-17 win. Sierra Smith led Grace’s attack with 10 kills to go along with a solo block and two block assists. Kari Feddema had seven kills on an efficient .375 percentage, and Caylie Teel notched 7 kills, 9 digs and 2 block assists. Chaney tallied 31 assists with eight digs, and Sara Miller added 16 digs and two aces. Grace made short work of Point Park in the second match of the day, winning in straight sets. Chaney led a balanced offense with 33 assists, helping eight different Lady Lancers record multiple kills. As a team, Grace had 23 more kills, 21 more assists, six more service aces, 19 more digs and five more block points in a dominating effort. The Pioneers (0-8) were held to just two kills in the entire opening set as Grace won 25-12. Grace had 16 kills in the second set en route to a four-point win, and the ladies closed out the sweep with a 25-15 victory in the third set. Smith had her second strong match of the tournament, leading Grace with nine kills on a .533 percentage to go along with two block assists. Tori Bontrager finished with seven kills and two block assists, and Megan Johnson notched 10 digs and six kills. Annie Salazar served up four aces, and Sara Miller finished with three aces and a match-best 20 digs. Marta Bleed and Grace Woolsey added five kills apiece, and Jessica Scherb had eight digs. The Lady Lancers end the tournament on Saturday with matches against Campbellsville and NAIA No. 7-ranked Lindsey Wilson.
Harriers Win At Northwest Classic WESTVILLE – The cross country season started on a high note for Grace College as the men’s and women’s teams won the Northwest Classic on Friday evening. “It’s obviously nice to win, but more importantly we made plans for this early race and stuck to those plans,” said Grace head coach Jeff Raymond. “It’s a long season, but this was a nice low-key meet to start with, especially for our nine freshmen.” The women beat five other teams in the 5k race, placing four runners in the top eight overall. Katelyn McCullough was second individually in a time of 19:32, and freshman Ariel Arellano was just behind her in third place at 19:38. Ariel’s sister Raven Arellano placed sixth with a time of 19:55, and fellow freshman Karla Singer crossed the finish line in eight place (20:24). Emma Mitchell rounded out Grace’s top five with a 13th-place showing of 21:22. The men also ran a 5k race, claiming a team score of 30 to beat the second-place finisher Purdue Calumet by 14. The Lancers demonstrated a strong pack running style, finishing 4-5-6-7-8-9-13. Freshmen Joel Bertelsen (16:33) and Brendan Hamilton (16:43) were Grace’s fastest runners, and Tyler Houvener was just behind at 16:44. Sam Hall placed seventh in 16:46, and Hunter Reed was Grace’s fifth runner at 16:58. Brandon Smith also earned a top-10 individual finish at 17:00. “Three guys bettered their high school PR's for the 5k, including two freshmen in their first collegiate race,” Raymond continued. “Two women also set person bests. These results will give them confidence as we move into a much tougher part of the season. Plus, the guys will move up to the collegiate 8k racing distance.” The Lancers’ next race is on Sept. 11 with the Indiana Wesleyan Invitational in Marion.
